A little chilly - fire it up, lets go!

The end of September, and though we are still having a few beautiful sunny days, Fall fills the night air, leaves are turning gold and red, and the seasons change is in progress. It was another lovely summer, filled with lots of music and concerts, road trips, vacations, beach walks, spending time with family, new and old friends, festivals, photography, lots of wine tasting and consumption, great meals paired with great conversations, gorgeous warm sun filled days, breathtaking sunsets, laughter & overall fun! Lots of work too, but that helps fund the fun. :)

Tonight on my way home from seeing an amazing Cajun Zydeco band out of New Orleans called BeauSoleil, I passed a number of fire trucks and police cars, it was only after I passed them that I caught a pg&e truck out of the corner of my eye and then noticed that everything else was completely black. Everything, as far as I could see, was dark, no streetlamps, no porch lights, nada - the whole entire town was without power and it was so dark, it was almost unbelievable. Thank goodness I have solar porch lights, so I could see enough to get into the house without tripping up my stairs. I have plenty of candles and knew right where my super flashlight was waiting. Yet, still, it was weird, its been a long time since the power was out here at night and I have never seen a whole town (granted we are small but still!) in a total blackout. It was a bit creepy and it was a reminder how dependent we have become on electricity, it was so odd to not be able to turn on the TV or look up a local news website and find out what was going on, and I found out that the radio I do have, doesn't work when its on battery power for some reason. So I'll need to get one that does, I do live in earthquake land and I live a block from the pacific ocean and about 5 miles from a nuclear power plant, so it seems like it could be one of those key emergency type items... ;)

We had a big beach bonfire last Sunday night, last one of the season, it was actually very clear and not that chilly. It was a random spur of the moment thing, probably brought on by the residual euphoria of the Raiders finally winning a game and looking like a team! Go Raiders! I think we only had one other bonfire this summer, we were "light" on them this summer for some reason. We did take a few cool pictures at the last one though. (I'll have to post them later - the photo upload isn't working so well.)

I've decided to make my now famous crab corn chowder tomorrow/later today, a sure sign that Autumn is here. I am so all about soups, stews, hot drinks and general comfort food as the colder days and darker nights settle in. Yummmmm, I think I hear some hot tea calling my name now. Good night, good morning and Happy Fall! =)